I non reved from SLC to CVG recently. Being a CSA for another legacy carrier, I pretty much have experienced every sistuation involving non revs. However (except for my airlines hub cities) most of the CSA's don't treat Non Revs as a nusiance and don't get bent out of shape unless the question or atitude of the Non Rev is way over the top. When a non rev asks me about a seat change (ex: are there any window or aisle seats available) I and 95% of the people I know just simply say yes or no and if they have time, deal with it. I asked this older DL female CSA if there were any window seats left and I was embarrased by the CSA who said indirectly, "you should know that on a buddy pass (I was not on one) that you take whatever seat we give you and that is that". Another passenger looked at me after I turned around as to say; What the hell was wrong with her? Which airline employees are the best towards Non Revs and which ones have (for the most part) CSA's like this DL one. I look forward to responses. I don't think my question was unreasonable and all she had to say was Yes or No, to the seat question

I fly DL quite frequently, and I've never had any such experience. Most times I've been flying with my son, and I've always been treated professionally, especially when we we were unable to get seats together.
And I also work for another (though not legacy) carrier.

Its not a matter of the airline, but the individual employee or even city. I have had some of the best experiences with UA in MCO, CO in IAH, NW in MCO, LX in ZRH, AZ in FCO, FL in ATL, EV/OH in outstations and DL all over the world. I have had some of my worst with HP in PHX, WN all over, EV in ATL, DL in ATL, AZ in FLR and AA all over. Although I have had my best experiences in ATL with DL, I have also had my worst experience in ATL with DL. I don't let the actions of one employee effect my opinion of the airline (outside of AF and AA but I still fly them) and how they treat non revs.

It's a big building with patients, but that's not important right now.

I frequently receive phone calls from other airline employees booking on my airline, and I always try to treat these folks with as much courtesy as possible. I have personally been helped out in tough situations by the employees of other airlines, especially our "big competitor" WN when traveling around the country. I imagine any airline employee who has been in the same situation as I would also treat other airline employees in the best possible manner. After all, no one knows what life is like for airline employees better than airline employees.

I apologize for the actions of this DL CSA. We, as a group, do not act like that. Next time, pull out a pen and write down her or his name right in front of her. Write a letter. Delta has zero tolerance for poor customer service. And regardless, of what she might think, you ARE a customer.

For sure that would be tempting, however one of the many "codes" in our bussiness is never to embarrass other employees, particulary in front of customers. An employee like that likely would have used that against me and told her manager (since a lot of cutthroat managers think like the following) that a non rev has no right to complain about anything at all and I could have been written up. While it is rare, I have heard stories such as a flight attendant saying that a pliots wife looked at her dirty and that wound up in getting the pilots (AS pilot) pass bennies suspended for 6 months.

I was told in training that most of the NRSA stuff is up to our descresion. I generally try to keep a posititive attitude with NRSA passengers, unless their attitude is, as you said, over the top. For example, last week I had a non-rev (parent of an employee) arguing with me because she didn't feel she should have to pay an charge for her 72 pound bag (22 over the limit). At that point I basically just said, look, if you want to fly, pay the charge, or leave. I personally think that for the most part the attitude NRSA's get from agents is a direct response of how they conduct themselves with us. Although in your case, it seems to be an occasion where the agent just didn't want to work with you- but at the same time... maybe she was having a bad day. I know that over christmas (yes, I'm a Comair employee), after working 4 cancelled flights in a row (with all the rebooking I could take in a 6 hour shift), only to have a non-rev call and ask how they were going to get somewhere... I basically just had no time for them.

To me, the biggest hurdle with NRSA's is buddy pass riders... because it seems to me like the employee that gives them the pass NEVER explains what it is and how it works. They always (in my experience) show up at the airport and don't even understand what the stand by list is... "so I don't have a seat?"... no you don't, that's the point of a buddy pass!

Like everyone has said there are the good and the bad. I have only ever had one really bad experience and that was with F9. I was departing from DEN with a buddy pass rider. I wanted to go out to the B Concourse to look at a UA747 that had spent the night. I sent her to the gate to check in and she did not want to go out there (it was early) so she did. When I arrived at the gate the agent was completely rude asked me why I had not arrived to check in earlier with her (I was still an hour early) told me that the employee that gave us the passes should have informed us better of the rules and so on. I slapped my employee ID badge down on the counter and said I am the employee and I don't see a problem. I told him I went out to the B to look at the UA 747, he asked me why if I like them so much I wasn't flying with them. I got extremely mad and decided to call over to UA where I used my other non-rev benefits (I work as a contractor with a few airlines that are kind enough to give me flight benefits as part of my compensation) I told the gate agent that I was completely disgusted with his attitude and that I was going over to UA and would make sure that I reported him first thing Monday morning. I ended up taking the later flight on UA and called from my vacation to report his behavior. It ended up that he was new, one of his first flights he worked without a trainer and he was soon there after fired. Never have had a bad experience again....

This is going back to the 70's but my Mom and I flew Pan Am 3 times on NR passes. She worked for Ozark at the time and the gate agents always treated us like bastard stepchildren who should be honored for flying a "real" airline. Once on the flight however I must say the service was great.

Other than that I never had a surly NR experience in all the years I was on her passes. In fact, many went out of their way to make me feel welcome.

Everyone is right--it just depends on the emplyee, maybe even the city. I've found DL employees here in STL to be very friendly, yet professional. In fact, one of my best experiences with DL in STL was at 4:30 AM! Later that day in CVG, I had a very mixed experience. The woman working the information desk was very helpful. I've got kinda bad, uncorrectable vision, and could not read the monitors (they're pretty darn high). She called up my flights on her computer and turned her monitor for me to see....all with a smile. The gate agent, however, was NOT nice at all. I was the 2nd or 3rd person in line to board, and she told me that there was no room for my carry on. I KNEW that the bins weren't full, and I also knew that my bag WOULD fit on an ERJ, as I had done it many times before. I aske "this flight is on an Embraer regional jet, right?" She replied "NO. Canadair. No room." I (with a patient tone) replied, "I just got off of a CRJ, and there was no problem at all." "I don't care. There is NO room." She took my boarding pass, tore the stub, and sent me on my way. When I got out on the tarmac, to no suprise at all, an ERJ was sitting there, waiting for me. I passed by the luggage cart and went up the stairs. I told the F/A what the gate agent had said, and she said not to worry, tore off the gate check tag, and helped me put my bag in an overhead...again, with a smile. SO...my point: it depends on the person.

My worst experiences were on AA...both in ORD and JFK. AA is shady in the aspect that if you are at a city where if you are one of their employees or not, they will call the people they know for a seat, and not by company seniority. I learned this the hard way twice. UA was always nice to me, no matter where I was flying and DL in CVG has always been the best. They try and put you in first class, without you asking provided you are dressed for it. No matter what the airline is, always write down the location and name of the agent that treats you badly, and if it is a common practice, then an agreement can just be ended so no one else has to go through what you do, and the other airline won't be able to enjoy flying on your airline.

See, I can't believe some people act the way they do. But keep in mind, we all have our days, some are worse than others, and like any company, a few bad apples do slip through the system. Heck, anytime I ever worked gates, you would think I treated my nonrevs like kings. If I had a full flight and had an OAL passenger and they may not make it on, as soon as I had a minute, I would call them aside and be like, "Look, it doesn't appear that you will make it on this flight, but if you want, I got a CVG flight leaving in 15 minutes that will connect you to wherever your going, and its wide open, but if you want to do that, I need to know now." Most of the time, not being a DL employee and knowing routes, they would be completely grateful for the help. Its common courtesy. I see airline employees all one big family and we got to help out each other.

But like I said, this person could have just been having a bad day. Came into work with a headache, maybe got some bad news during briefing, just had a pain in the butt passengers followed by a pain in the butt crew member whining about something small and pointless, and now when she feels that she needs a rest, tends to blow up on the next passenger, which happened to be you, unfortunately. There is no excuse for that kind of behavior toward anyone. Next time, just do what I do when treated badly. Just be quiet, stand back, take out a pen and paper, and nonchalantly(just dont make it obvious) write down their name and description to write into later. If possible, ask another agent around about who the supervisor on duty might be and if its possible to speak with them. Otherwise, write a letter about this employee. Believe me, every employee at Delta will get called on the carpet to explain themselves if a bad letter about them arrives. If you have a good letter show for you, you are called on the carpet to be congratulated and rewarded.

The SLC agent's actions were out of line. ALL customers (REV or NRSA) are to be treated with respect. She failed you in that regard and you did absolutely nothing wrong. At the risk of sounding biased, I have found DL agents to be among the most friendly and DL's NRSA policy (especially) for OAL employees to be very generous. Most of the time, if First is available, an OAL employee will be accommodated in that cabin without having to ask. Of course, First is hard to come by these days. DL's generous policy has certainly paid dividends for me as I frequently non-rev on OAL's. When I approach the agent at an OAL and advise them that I am a DL employee and might I be accommodated in First, I have been rewarded with such because, as I've been told many times, DL was good to them when they non-revved on DL. This has been the case on AA, NW, AS, UA, etc. There have been numerous times though when I encountered the same attitude that you described and believe it or not, almost without fail from European airlines. Anyway, sorry you had this bad experience. It was only the agent and not the airline. Maybe she was having a bad day.

Do you work for AF? If so, then its no wonder that you might get treated the way you do. No offense, I mean, you shouldn't get treated badly, but if you have seen or heard the ways that we get treated by AF.

I have never connected in CDG. But from the stories I have heard, if you are travelling from another city in Europe and connect in CDG, AF agents will only check your bags to CDG and you have to re-check them in. At the AF ticket counter, DL nonrevs are told to go stand in the corner and they will be called when they are cleared for the flight(instead of at the gate). They then have to rush through security and down the concourse just to barely make the flight, and are usually berated by the gate agent for being late.

I have done some time working in ATL Baggage Service. DL handles AF files there. Now, I don't know what the deal is with ATLAF agents, but they decide to show up at the worst times, will tug you away from your duties, and give you a little quiz on how to handle an AF file, as if you were in 3rd grade(by the way, the only difference is to note whether or not the customer was given an amenity kit, and explain that they were given an AF claim form). Furthermore, if you encounter an AF passenger that is curious about out of pocket expenses, don't even think about calling Air France down at the ticket counter. I ran into this once, and not knowing what to tell them, called down to the ticket counter. Keep in mind this was not during a busy time or while a flight was in, and upon asking the AF ticket agent what the policy was for out of pocket expenses, I was scolded by her. She said in a very irritated manner, "Do not call me, I do not work baggage service and if they are to recieve out of pocket expenses, it will say so in their file(it didn't, thats why I was calling)." She said, "I am transferring you to my supervisor." When the supervisor answered, I only got halfway through my question and was told, "I have no idea, we do not deal with that. If they have a problem, they should call the phone number(which is located in FLL)." Now, if AF doesn't know their own crap here, then why are they quizing DL folks on it? If they have a problem with DL doing anything, then they are more than welcome to get their own people down here and do their own dirty work.

The AF people here are some of the most rude people that I have ever encountered and I have heard they are the same in other parts. It actually makes me embarrassed to be associated with them in Skyteam. Feel free to ask any DL agent who has had contact with an AF agent, and most will tell you the experience was horrible. Treated very rude and scolded, just for trying to ask a simple question.

Like I said, I do not believe any airline agents should be treated bad by others, but the horror stories people bring from AF leave one to wonder, what goes around comes around, so to speak.

I've generally been treated with great respect when flying NRSA on Delta. But you have to know the rules of the game and follow them, or they can get snappy. I've run into a few of the snappy ones, but in these cases I was just being a smarta$$ teenager who they knew was flying on daddy's passes